Trump Bashing 101

Harvard is so polite that its printed program for Jeb Bush’s debut speech as a fellow at the Kennedy School of Government didn’t even use the words “presidential” or “candidate.” A professor introduced Bush Thursday night as a former Florida governor, gracefully omitting his $100-million flameout in the Republican primaries. But Bush knew why the students had come: to hear the GOP Establishment’s vanquished White House contender in exile, the nice guy whose shock-and-awe strategy to steamroll a crowded field fizzled before the sonic boom of Donald Trump’s candidacy. And if his hosts were hesitant to broach the subject of the man currently laying waste to campaign norms and Republican principles, Bush himself had no intention of holding back.

“This has obviously been a very tough election cycle for the country,” a Harvard junior ventured diplomatically.

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“Tell me about it,” Bush retorted. The students laughed and clapped, the ice broken. “I’m going to give you a nickname, like my brother does: Captain Obvious.” The student asked about Trump’s rigged-election claims.

“Trump only talks about things being rigged when it’s not going well for him,” Bush replied. “It’s a leading indicator.”

Bush was relaxed, cracking jokes, self-deprecating, sounding relieved to be at Harvard and not campaigning. This was definitely not the awkward Jeb who late in his increasingly cheerless primary bid once urged his audience: “Please clap.”

“Our politics and our government is a mirror image of us,” Bush said, answering a professor’s well-tossed softball about Abraham Lincoln and hope. “Now, that insults a lot of people when you think about it. Politics is a circus mirror, perhaps, but it’s a mirror of our culture, and our culture’s changed.”

Officially, Bush came to Harvard to deliver a lecture on economic and social mobility, a kick-off to his three months as a visiting fellow on education policy and governance. He pulled out most of his “Right to Rise” agenda—increasing opportunity with welfare and education reform, family-friendly policies and an economic growth plan that leans on conservative tax policy and cuts in regulation. With some changes in rhetoric and emphasis, it was a rewrite of his campaign agenda and his February 2015 speech at the Detroit Economic Club, which was criticized for sticking to conservative orthodoxy. Even his nods toward restorative justice and criminal justice reform, which reflect the growing conservative interest in both, weren’t new.

But Bush is nothing if not a stubborn believer in his world view.

“People are so anxious and angry,” Bush said. He acknowledged that the rich are getting richer, while the poor are stuck. If he has regrets about his failure to connect with the alienated, he didn’t talk about them.

Bush implied that he thinks Trump will lose in November—and that Trump may be even worse in his eyes than Hillary Clinton. A Harvard sophomore argued that Trump has had success with a divisive and dark message of America as a country in decline. She asked Bush to reconcile that with his vision of expanded opportunity. Bush half-smiled, nodded, scoffed. The crowd laughed.

“As conservatives, we cannot win as the grievance party,” Bush said. “The Trump idea of saying that things are bad—they are bad—and not offering solutions to give people hope, that’s not a sustainable message. And the other side is not much better. I’ve got to be honest with you, I’ve been watching ESPN a lot more.”

In other words, Bush hasn’t spent much time thinking about how conservatism needs to change to answer Trump’s angry nationalism. In fact, he filled his talk at Harvard with pleas for bipartisanship. Unprompted, he answered a foreign policy question by calling for a return to bipartisan support for America’s international alliances. “For the first time since the creation of NATO, we have a candidate who doesn’t believe the treaty alliance is in our best interest,” he said.

That issue puts Bush on Clinton’s side, against Trump. But Bush has already ruled out voting for either candidate. In July, he wrote that he’d either vote Libertarian or write in a candidate. Last night in Cambridge, Bush wouldn’t tell reporters how he’ll vote, but added, “If everybody didn’t vote, that would be a pretty powerful political statement, wouldn’t it?”

Bush seemed happy to be at Harvard, where he can talk policy without anyone mocking his wonkiness. When economics professor Roland Fryer asked Bush about young African-Americans’ fears of police violence, Bush talked about Fryer’s study of police use of force as he argued for “dealing with this mistrust on both sides.” He gave a shout-out to Harvard professor Robert Putnam, celebrated author of Bowling Alone, saying Putnam’s books had deepened his passion for trying to help people rise out of poverty. Half of the panel and audience questions touched on education, and Bush plunged into the weeds with gusto, talking up the school reforms he championed as Florida governor.

Bush hinted that his Harvard connection might extend beyond the fall fellowship. A conservative audience member asked if he might play “a more active role” at the Kennedy School. “I can’t say it, because it hasn’t been announced yet,” Bush said, “but I like the idea.” Harvard is a consolation prize for Bush, but it could be his dream job.